Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.
1. These are the names It is the intention of Moses to describe the miraculous deliverance of the people, (from whence the Greeks gave the name to the book;) but, before he comes to that, he briefly reminds us that the promise given to Abraham was not ineffectual, that his seed should be multiplied “as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which...
Their names recur throughout Scripture to make them familiar to us, showing how precious God's spiritual Israel are to Him. Seventy souls entered Egypt, the very number of nations scattered at Babel, so mark how their later increase becomes wonderful, it is always good to remember how small a thing we began from before the Lord made us great.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 1:1-7
Now these are the names of the children of Israel which came down into Egypt,.... Of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Jacob, who were heads of the twelve tribes, whose names are here given; since the historian is about to give an account of their coming out of Egypt, and that it might be observed how greatly they increased in it, and how exactly...